Phred wrote:
> In article <464808c8$0$16380
>, Charlene Charette > wrote:
> >Steve Wertz wrote:
> >> On 12 May 2007 17:25:15 -0700, wrote:
> >>
> >>>There is no d in refrigerate.
> >>
> >> But there is in 'fridge'. Go figure.
> >
> >That's because "fridge" comes from "Frigidaire" not "refrigerator".
>
> At first I thought this was nonsense, but I can see the point:
>
> If one assumes the pronunciation of "Frigidaire" for the abridged
> version [nominally "Frig"] then it would have to be spelt "fridge".
>
> Incidentally, I hadn't realised that Frigidaire developed the original
> self-contained refrigerators. The brand name seemed to come later
> than others here in Oz as far as I recall. But that may be a
> consequence of our old "Commonwealth trade preferences" whereby damn
> nearly everything (except decent cars) came from Pommieland for the
> first half century or more of "Australia". I can still recall my
> surprise at age 12 or 13 when reading that something like 50% of the
> world's economy was based in the USA at that time -- and about the
> only US products we saw here then were motor vehicles.
>
AFAIK most all "US" cars exported to Australia years ago were right - hand
drive models built by Canadian subsidiaries of US automakers (Pontiac,
Chevrolet, etc.). This was done because Canada was a fellow Commonwealth
country and the duties on imported Canadian vehicles were consequently lower
than if they were imported directly into Oz from the USA...these Canadian
subisidaries similarly produced US models for export to the UK, too.
Of course at one time Ford and Chrysler were big players in the Oz motor
markets, e.g. Oz - made versions of Ford Falcons and Chrysler (Plymouth)
Valiants were best - sellers in the 60's - 70's...
Chrysler some produced some odd - looking (to us Yanks) "hybrid" models for
the Oz market in the late 50's. They'd use c. 1954 US Plymouth body shells
with '56 - ish Dodge or Plymouth front ends and wierd tailfins on the back,
these were called "Chrysler Royal", etc....similar models were also produced
for the European - Scandinavian markets, all knock - down kit cars.
There were some fairly interesting Chevrolet, etc. utes made by GM - Holden
and others back in the day, too...
Recently a Holden model was built and shipped to the US and sold as the
Pontiac GTO. It was a fairly ordinary sedan, didn't fare too well in the
market. That's the only Oz car ever "exported" to the US
AFAIK...
--
Best
Greg